MARYSVILLE Coming back from a four-run deficit, Walker Coffee Company defeated the South Snohomish As 14-10 to take third-place overall in Marysvilles Strawberry Tournament.
The June 14 win followed a 10-0 loss at the hands of the La Hacienda Sox, WCCs Marysville Little League National Division rival the night before, which sent the Sox to the tournaments championship game.
The As were successful at the plate early on, with several batters getting hits against Walker Coffees Tyler Beach. By the bottom of the first, the home team was down 4-0.
Walker took advantage of As walks and errors to make it a one-run game going into the second inning.
The As opened their lead with a third-inning homer from Zach Pederson and a pair of fourth-inning runs to make it a four-run game again.
But WCC wasnt ready to give up.
Matthew Ness had a double into center field and that turned it around for us, team manager Bryan Ness explained.
The double by Matthew Ness narrowed the scoring gap again, as teammates Beau Wells and Tyler Summers made it in.
It was just the start of a nine-run fourth inning that put Walker Coffee in control of the rest of the game. Seven consecutive players scored Wells, Summers, Ness, shortstop Tyler Wade, catcher Kayce Walker, Beach and third baseman Josh Weaver and the inning also included a home run from first baseman Alec Bargmeyer, the teams first homer of the two-week tournament.
Wade and Beach scored again in the fifth inning, nabbing Walker Coffee its 13th and 14th runs.
Walker Coffees third-place tournament finish was a six-game journey. They defeated Alderwood 10-0, the Mill Creek Dodgers 11-3, and Lake Stevens 13-3 to qualify for the tournament playoff. A 7-6 defeat of Pacific pitted Walker Coffee against fellow Marysville team La Hacienda for the privilege of playing in the championship game.
Reflecting on the tournament, Bryan Ness said his players continued to hone their skills from the end of their regular season a couple weeks ago.
I thought all our players have improved. Its a team effort for us. Our whole team, throughout, has improved, Ness said. We had a lot of people come up big for us in a lot of games.

At Cedar Field

As 4 0 1 2 1 2 10
Walker 3 0 0 9 2 x 14